Newspaper Page Text
8A
t-THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13. 1993
Perry sports
Brian ■
j Lawson
Sports editor
Perry: Hoop
City, Ga.
It was a pretty good week for the
Perry boys basketball team.
They scored 284 points in three
games, an average of 94 points per
outing. They scored over 100
points in two straight games
In that same time span the Pan
thers opponents scored 149 points,
averaging roughly 49 per game
against Perry.
For the non-mathematicians, that
means Perry's average margin of
victory was 45 points a game.
After the Houston County game,
Coach Carl Thomas said his team
was hitting on all cylinders.
The Panthers post players have all
contributed to their scoring binge.
Arthur Billings has been starting
the last few games by nailing a
three pointer in the first few min
utes. Billings range forces the de
fense to came outside to guard him
which opens up the middle for drib
ble penetration, a cut to the basket
or low post work.
Boris King plays taller than he is
by outmuscling the players as
signed to guard him.
Garrictt Curry and Tarvish Felton
arc both smooth around the basket
and can score outside as well as in
side. Thomas is very high on both
players citing their intelligence and
versatility.
Alter Perry hosts Wayne County
Friday night, they travel to play
their rival, undefeated Peach
County.
With both teams playing well,
Saturday night's game promises full
dollar value.
Starting Jan. 19, Perry plays four
of their next five games on the
road, including region games at
Jones County, Fitzgerald and Ware
County.
The Panthers appear to be hitting
stride at the right time and it will
be interesting to sec how far they
can go.
Perry's one loss this season was
by three points to Dougherty. The
Panthers had lost the services of
Michael Lane the day before and
play was sloppy by both teams.
Perry struggled at the foul line in
that game and went without guard
Keith Wimberly during a key
stretch in the fourth quarter.
Even then, the Panthers were a
questionable five second call away
from a shot to win the game.
Dougherty didn’t look very good
against Perry, but they went out
two nights later and knocked off
three lime defending state cham
pion Wcstovcr.
So call it a bad night, or great de
fense, but based on my limited field
of observation, Perry appears to be
drawing closer to the rarefied air.
Perry Middle Hoops
The Perry Middle School
basketball teams have completed a
great regular season. All four
teams either won first place
outright or tied for first in their
grade.
The teams will compete Friday in
the semifinals of the Houston
County Championship
Tournament. A win Friday night
means they will play Saturday in
the Houston County championship
tournament.
The seventh grade girls who
finished the regular season 7-1 play
the winner of the Rumble-Tabor
game, Friday at Norlhside Middle
School at 4:15.
The seventh grade boys who have
won 5 of their last six games,
finished the regular season at 6-2,
good enough for a lie for first. The
Panthers lost a coin flip and they
will have to play third place Warner
Robins Friday night at 8 p.m. at
Nortiisidc Middle School.
Coach Bob Cook has praised his
team all year for their hustle and
desire.
The defending county champion
eighth grade girls finished the
regular season 7-0-1 and will play
the winner of the Tabor-Warncr
Robins game at 4:15 Friday at
Warner Robins Middle School.
Coach Ron Wilson is hoping his
pressing defense can help earn his
team a repeat championship.
The eighth grade boys team also
won first place in their division
with a 7-1 record and will play at
5:30 Friday at Warner Robins
Middle School. They will play the
Please see LAWSON, page 9A
PHS whips Appling Co. 80-48 Sat.
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
Perry High's boys basketball team
capped off an impressive week by
knocking off Appling County 80-
48 Saturday night.
The win moved the Panthers
record to 3-0 in region play and 7-
1 overall.
The last time a Perry team visited
Appling County it turned out to be
the last game of the year for the
Panthers football team.
Two members of that team,
Arthur Billings and Boris King
earned a measure of revenge by
pacing the Panther scoring and
leading the rout.
Billings had 22 points, including
two three pointers in the first quar
ter and King added 15 points.
In their previous two outings, the
Panthers had scored 103 and 101
points.
They opened the game Saturday
flight at the same pace that charac
terized their last two lopsided wins.
The first two field goals the
Panthers hit Saturday night were
three pointers from Billings and
Eric Richardson.
After Keith Wimberly connected
on a jumper in the lane the
Panthers led 8-4 at the six minute
mark. Perry then went on a 13-5
run to close out the quarter.
The Indians couldn't find the range
from the outside and Billings and
King scored the last 11 points of
the quarter for Perry. With the ex
ception of another three pointer
from Billings, the rest of the pair's
I V' mam m >,
las Pl. ...
Austin Abney led WHS with 19 points Saturday.
WHS gets back on track
with 67-54 win over D-W
By TREY MOODY
Special to The HHJ
The Westfield boys basketball
team performed impressively at
home Saturday, defeating the Decr
field-Windsor Knights 67-54.
After the victory, Coach Cater
Pierce commented, "This was a
team effort. We played well as a
team today for the first time this
season. I'm proud of the guys in
tensity and focus."
Westfield jumped on the visitors
in the first period hitting from all
over the court and building a 12-4
lead with 3:06 left to play.
The initial spurt was highlighted
by Shane Hester who scored six of
the Hornets first nine points.
Hester finished the night with 11
points and 18 rebounds.
Deerfield-Windsor rallied late in
the period and scored six unan
swered points to make the score
12-10 going into the second period.
After a tongue lashing by Pierce
between the periods, the Hornets
picked up the defensive pressure and
worked on taking open shots from
outside instead of forcing the ball
inside against the Knight’s packed
zone defense.
Westfield scored the first seven
points of the period on a Lon Tal
ton jumper and two Austin Abney
bombs. Abney went on a tear scor- _
poims came in the paint.
Perry held the Indians to nine
points in the quarter. The defense
was led by Stacy Francis and Wim
berly who harrassed the Indians
guards from end to end and forced
them into hurried shots.
Appling got five points in the
quarter from from 6'6, 325 pound
Jamie Nails. Panther fans will re
member Nails as number 68 on the
football team. Another football
nemesis running back Brandon
Vann (31) managed seven points on
the night and missed numerous
shot attempts with Francis and
Richardson in his face.
Perry opened the second quarter
the same way they opened the
game, with a three pointer.
Richardson's trey gave the Panthers
a 24-9 lead at the 7:10 mark.
Appling reached double figures at
the 5:08 mark to make the score
26-10.
The Panthers then outscored the
Indians 14-6 to close out the half.
Shawn Bass started the run with
a lay-up to give the Panthers an 18
point lead.
Garrictt Curry hit back to back
baskets and Francis added another
Perry lay-up to give the Panthers a
34-12 lead.
Wimberly scored the last six
points of the quarter for Perry with
a twisting lay-up, a long jump
shot from the baseline and two free
throws.
Perry led at halftime 40-16.
I lie Panthers offense had tiicir
first low scoring quarter in three
ing on four consecutive trips down
the floor including three, three
pointers.
Deerfield's Steve Murphy re
sponded with two three pointers of
his own during the quarter to keep
the score close.
Westfield led at intermission, 27-
23.
After the break, Westfield picked
up where they had left off spreading
the scoring around and being patient
waiting for good shot opportuni
ties. »
Both teams swapped buckets for
most of the third period w ith West
field's Lon Talton and Geoff Hill
adding back to back 3 pointers late
to make the score Westfield 39-31
going into the final period.
At the start of the fourth period,
Westfield’s Troy Nuss came alive
scoring all of his eight points in
the first two minutes of the quarter.
Nuss' strong play down low all
but broke the back s of the Knights
and forced the visitors to foul on
each Hornet possession.
The stategy failed as the Hornets
scaled the victory hitting 11 of 13
from the line, down the stretch.
The win improved the Hornets
record to 4-5 as they head into re
gion play this week.
games, with a 13 point third quar
ter.
Appling County outscored the
Panthers 17-13 behind seven points
from Nails and four each from
guards Clint Richardson and Keith
Hill.
Billings and Richardson had four
points each for the Panthers and
King added three as the Perry of
fense slowed down.
After five straight points from
Nails cut the Perry lead to 49-33
with a minute to play in the quar
ter, Billings converted a lay-up and
Richardson drilled a jumper in the
final seconds to give Perry a 53-33
lead after three quarters.
Perry cranked it back up offen
sively in the fourth quarter.
After not scoring until the 6:44
mark of the lianl quarter, Perry
outscored the Indians 27-15 to
close out the game.
King led the final charge with
eight points, Billings added six,
including three of Perry's first four
baskets in the quarter. Tarvish
Felton had five points in the quarter
and capped off the win for Perry
with a three pointer as time expired.
Perry Coach Carl Thomas said
after Perry's final game in
December he needed more scoring
from Richardson.
Since then Richardson has found
the range from behind the three
point stripe hitting two Saturday
night, three in the first quarter
Friday night and two Tuesday
night. He finished the Appling
County game with 16 points.
HHJ sports staffed by locals
By BRIAN LAWSON
Sports Editor
A casual reader of The Houston
Home Journal is likely to be
amazed at the size of the sports
staff.
On any given issue during the
winter sports season, it is conceiv
able The HHJ could have as many
as five different writers providing
sports copy.
Due to scheduling conflicts, it is
necessary to have part-time sports
writers helping the paper keep up
with all the local action, the paper
is fortunate to have found four
quality writers at the same time.
David Jahns (pronounced Jons), a
senior at Westfield, is often asked
to w-rite stories concerning Hornet'
athletics.
Nikita Simon, a senior at Perry
High recently added her name to the
paper with two stories in the Jan. 9
issue about Perry High's basketball
teams.
Karin Hasscngcr, a freshman at
Perry High, is The HHJ's first ever
wrestling correspondent.
Trey Moody, a native of Fort
Worth, Texas is a law clerk for the
Houston County Superior Court
Judges. He has written several foot
ball stories for The HHJ and has
two basketball stories in the current
issue.
Warn M
v||. f§ ' § i ■J? itp •
i l JR
Sports reporters, from left, David Jahns, Karin Hassenger, Nikita Simon and
Trey Moody. Each has used their unique place in the community to write sports
for The HHJ.
f The Houston Home f
Journal
»VV'.™K v
<*• -lidftflr* : --;-,- :> I» JP§fr
Jgr jpn^
' \ jjjbafcfey \ ~'
WhmJ* * WKKKm 31
■ '»■ JF
*fift ft %
‘ft
Boris King lays in two against Appling County.
The four part-time sports writers,
known as "Stringers" in the trade,
have the love of sports in common
and an interest in journalism and
writing.
Jahn's father works for PPG and
the family moved to Perry four
years ago. He was approached last
year by his English teacher after a
request by then Sports Editor JJ
Cooper, for a recommendation of a
student who writes well. Jahns has
been a member of the Alpha Club
for four years, the club requires its
members maintain an A average
each semester.
"I was interested right away and
it's still fun a year later. The hard
est part is gelling started on the
story. Covering football you get a
different view of the game and you
hear what the coaches say. 1 like
covering football the best," Jahns
said.
Simon, a Perry native and a Perry
High School cheerleader answered
an ad in The HHJ.
"I've been a sports fanatic since
tilth grade when I began to under
stand football. I enjoy watching
just about every sport. Sportswrit
ing was a natural step considering
how much I love sports. The best
part has been gaining experience do
ing something I enjoy and seeing
my stories get in the paper. I'd like
to study journalism in college and
eventually get into sports broadcast
ing,” she said.
Hassenger moved to Perry with,
her family in August.
The Hassenger's left Constantine.
Michigan in search of a warmer
climate and an area where Karin's
father Steve could coach wrestling
in a growing program.
"People ask me how do you like
our tiny town and 1 tell them it's
huge compared to Constantine. 1
like the weather here because I hate
snow, but I don't like being so far
away from my family and friends.
I've been interested in journalism
since seventh grade and because of
my Dad I've been around sports all
my life. Since I've been interested
in journalism I've always thought
I'd write sports. When my Dad
pointed the ad out to me I thought,
'Why not?'" she said.
Moody took the July bar exam
and learned he had passed it in De
cember.
"I wanted to stay sharp in my
writing skills, I enjoy high school
athletics and it's nice to have some
extra money. I also needed an outlet
while I was waiting for the bar re
sults. My wife Tamara and I have a
tw'o year old boy Brooks and an-
Please see SPORTS, page 9A